Apparatus for molding pencils and the like



Aug. 15, 1933. E, DANIEL 1,922,527

APPARATUS FOR MOLDING PENCILS AND THE LIKE Filed March 3. 1928 @52Mwwwa/1% Patented Aug. 15, 1933 UNITED STATES APPARATUS FOR MOLDINGPENCILS AND THE LIKE `Charles E. Daniel, Sandusky, Ohio, assigner to TheAmerican Crayon Company, Sandusky, Ohio, a Corporation of OhioApplication March 3, 192s. serial No. 258,768

2 Claims.

The invention relates to improvements in apparatus for molding pencils,especially pencils comprising a casing or envelope within which is a rodor stem of so-called lead or graphite;

5 the casing being made of such material that portions thereof at theend must be cut away or otherwise removed in order to sharpen thepencil.

An object of the invention is to provide an easily operable apparatusfor making the casing l of the pencil out of material which can bemolded and compressed into the required shape, with the rod or stem oflead or graphite in `place therein. In the practice of the invention Iemploy suitable dies together with a hopper for delivering the materialinto a mold, compressing dies and parts which cooperate therewith,together with mechanism for enabling the rods or stems of lead orgraphite or other suitable substance for writing, which will hereinafterbe called leads, to be inserted.

On the drawing,

Figure 1 is a view partly in section showing the mechanism constitutingthe mold in which the casing of the pencil is formed together with thehopper for supplying the leads to the pencil,

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the parts in section with the pencil inprocess of formation,

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the parts in the position when themolding of the pencil is completed and it is ready to be delivered fromthe mold,

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing the parts in position when the pencilis about to be discharged from the apparatus and Fig. 5 is a transversesection showing diagrammatically the molding apparatus.

The same numerals identify 'the same parts throughout.

On the drawing I show a pair of dies l and 2 40 which have the form cfplungers to work in a mold block 3 containing an opening 4 of a size tolit the` coniiguration of these dies;V each of the dies 1 and 2 is ofconsiderable length as compared to the thickness thereof and theiradjacent ends are provided with recesses 5, each having the form of aflattened V. These dies approach each other in the course of operationbut do not meet and they will therefore form with'the inside of theopening 4 through the die block 3 a hexagonal shaped space Yas indicatedin Fig, 5. Hence, a pencil having six faces can be produced with thisapparatus. The die block 3 can be mounted in suitable supports 6, one ciwhich shown at the left has a round opening 7 in line with an opening 8through the die block (Cl. 13--5) i. f

for the passage of the lead into the pencil when the operation ofmolding is in progress. The other support 6 has a similar opening inlinelwith another opening through the die block 3 leading to the moldcavity therein provided by the tWo'GO ends of the dies 1 and 2 and thesides of the opening 4. Through these last named openings in the support6 and mold block 3 reciprocates a rod 9 which may be of steel, attachedto an arm l0 operated in any suitable manner. At 11 '65 is indicated ahopper for material which is supplied to the opening 4 in the mold block3 to provide the casing for the pencils and to be compressed by the'dies1 and 2. This material is indicated in Figures 2 and 3 by the numeral12. :70

On the side of the apparatus opposite to that where the rod 9 isdisposed I mount a hopper 13 which contains the leads. This hopper willhave openings in the opposite ends, one of which will receive a rod orplunger 14 attached to an arm 75 15 and the purpose of this rod 14 is toreciprocate and push the leads from the hopper 13 Asuccessively. throughthe adjacent openings or apertures 'l and 8 in the support 6 and dieblock 3 into the pencil. One of the leads is indicated 80 at 16 in Fig.3.

In actual operation the dies l and 2 will occupy the position shown inFig. 1 Where the lower die 2 closes the bottom of the opening 4 and theupper die is raised to expose the top of It85 this opening. At this timethe hopper 11 will be in position to discharge the material 12 into theopening 3 in suincient amount to ll this opening. This hopper is mountedso as to be U movable by any suitable apparatus which is not shown inthe drawing. When the mold cavity is iilled with the mold material thehopper 11 is retracted so as to permit the upper die 1 to move downwardand this die will of course be guided so as to pass into the opening 4which `95 it iits. At the same time the rod 9 is moved to force its waythrough the mold material 12 and the two dies actuated to approach eachother and thus partly compress the mold material,A around the rod 9 asindicated in Fig. 2. The '-'1'00 apparatus for actuating the rod 9 isnot shown but will be designed to operate as required.

The neXt step in the operation effects the withdrawal of the rod 9leaving a longitudinal `opening through the partly molded pencil casl:ing in the mold cavity. The plunger 14 is now actuated pushing a leadthrough the outlet opening of the hopper 13 and through the openings 7and 8 in the adjacent support 6 and adjacent end of the die block 3 intothe longitudinal chanl-lO nel or central passage which the rod 9 hasleft in the partly molded pencil casing. The lead is of the same lengthas the mold cavity between the two opposite openings 8 as indicated inFig. 3 and then the dies 1 and 2 are caused to approach each other alittle more to effect the final compressing operation. Both dies thenmove upwardly as indicated in Fig. 4, the upper die 1 clearing the topof the mold block or die ring 3 and the lower die stopping when itreaches the top of the part 3 exposing the completed pencil. A partindicated at 17 in Fig. 5 now moves across the upper face of the moldblock 3 and removes the pencil from the apparatus. Subsequently thepencil can be colored or polished or put through any other nishingprocess.

The various parts comprising the two dies 1 and 2, the hopper 11 and rod9 and the plunger 14 and part 17 will of course be mounted to actuate inthe order required and to the extent necessary to give the desiredresults; and the hopper 13 may have any suitable device for alwayscausing a lead to be in the right position to be delivered by theinstroke of the rod 14. The mechanisms for coordinating the movements ofthe parts illustrated on the drawing are not illustrated as they are notincluded within this invention.

By the apparatus shown and described it will be apparent that I 'canproduce pencils of the desired shape very quickly and in an inexpensivemanner. The material fed into the mold cavity from the hopper ll will beof suitable composition to envelop the lead and form a permanent durablecasing therefor which at the same time is soft enough to enable it Vtobe readily cut or ground to keep one end of the lead 16 at a point forwriting and while I have shown the dies so shaped at one end toproduce'hexagonal pencils, I may obviously design the parts to makeround pencils or pencils of any other shape.

While I have described a preferred embodiment of my invention, I ofcourse, reserve the right to make changes in the parts or mode ofproceeding consistent with the principle and scope of the invention asindicated by the meanings of the terms employed in the appended claims.

I claim:

l. Apparatus for molding pencils including a part having a mold cavity,vertically movable spaced dies, the lower die being movable within saidmold cavity and constituting the base thereof and the upper die beingmovable into and out of said mold cavity, movable means for supplyingmoldable material to said cavity when the upper die is at the limit ofits upward movement, means for supplying lead cores to the moldablematerial compressed within the mold cavity between said dies, and saidlower die adapted for movement in the mold cavity to project thecompleted pencil above the upper end thereof for removal.

2. Apparatus for molding pencils comprising a part having a cavityextending vertically therethrough, upper and lower relatively movablespaced dies, said lower die at all times operating within said cavityand constituting the baser thereof, and said upper die being movableinto and out of said mold cavity, means for feeding moldable materialinto the upper end of the mold cavity while the upper die is at theupward limit of its movement, said upper die adapted upon entering saidcavity to initially compress the material between itself and the lowerdie, means for forming a bore through the compressed material, means forinserting a lead core into said bore, the further compression of the'material being produced by relative movement of said dies acting totightly encase said core therein, and the lower die being subsequentlymovable in said cavity to project the completed pencil above the upperend thereof, and means for removing the completed pencil from said die.

CHARLES E. DANIEL.

